Modern vehicles are increasingly making use of electronic traction control systems to improve vehicle traction and driver control. Such systems typically sense the spinning of slipping of driving wheels of the vehicle and vary the throttle or the braking force to the slipping or spinning wheel. Control of the spinning of the driving wheels via brake intervention is of particular use when the vehicle is driven over surfaces in which frictional resistance of the surface may substantially vary between the driving wheels. For instance, in winter driving conditions, the road surface may only be partially cleared resulting in occasion patches of snow or ice. Under such conditions, when one or more of the driving wheels is detected to be spinning, certain traction control systems apply a braking force to the spinning wheel(s).
While such a procedure has been found to improve vehicle traction, it can also create cross-axis forces which lead to spinning of the other driving wheel. Known vehicle traction controllers respond by applying a braking force to the newly spinning driving wheel. Occasionally during sudden throttle tip-in, the consequence of such a response is an oscillation of spinning between the driving wheels. The reduction of spinning of one wheel causes the spinning of the other wheel, the reduction of which causes the spinning of the originally spinning wheel.
As a result of such phenomena, there is a need for a traction control system which reduces cross-axis oscillations of wheel spinning which occasionally occurs on roads with differing frictional resistances.